Tell us the title:
Sarah's Key
Who penned this work?:
Tatiana de Rosnay
How did this piece find it's way to your nightstand?:
My mother-in-law lent it to me
Number of pages:
293
Time passed from start to finish?:
three or four days
Describe the cover:
Two small kids running down a road in Paris
In what section of the bookstore would a reader find this?:
Fiction, but based on real-life events
Summary of the basic plot:
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
What did you think of it? (your general response, what you liked or didn't like, what you learned, anything else you want to share about it):
Couldn't put it down, it was very interesting to learn about something that I had no clue that had happened.
Which page was your favorite? Share why:
gah, i don't know
If the story was made into a movie, who would you cast as the main characters?
well upon searching for a quick summary, i discovered that it has already been made into a movie. most of the characters are french though, so i wouldn't know who to cast!
Share a quote that was worth reading twice. Explain why:
It's more of a section: "The girl wondered: these policemen...didn't they have families too? Didn't they have children? Children they went home to? How could they treat children this way? Were they told to do so, or did they act this way naturally? Were they in fact machines, not human beings? She looked closely at them. They seemed of flesh and bone. They were men. She couldn't understand."
When reading, you can really feel like you are there with her, and feeling everything she's feeling and thinking. It was just a horrible time, and i can't imagine what it was like for them.
Choose your rating:
- Changed. My. Life.
- I laughed, I cried, I want you to read it
- A definite page-turner
- Good to check out but don't spend the cash.
- Why did I waste my weekend on this?
- A disgrace to paper everywhere
Flip to page 2, 22, or 202. Share the 7th sentence on the page.
"Was that why they were here, had the police come to take Papa to the places he had mentioned during those hushed midnight talks: the "camps," far away, out of the city?"
